Customer Reviews

In the Mouth of Madness

5 star:		(101)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Before I get into my review of the film itself, let me say that one of the other reviewers is quite correct. The commentary on this DVD is hands-down the most mind-numbing exercise in boredom ever. "So, you used a soft focus back lighting here to deepen the shadows, right?" "yep". Not a real quote from the commentary, but it gives you a taste of the tedious nature of their conversation.

The movie, on the otherhand is anything but boring. I had been a Carpenter fan for quite some time when I went to see this in the theater. Most of Carpenter's films seemed to be centered around a certain atmosphere. IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS is wrapped around a concept. If enough people believe something, does it become reality?

Sam Neill plays John Trent, an insurance investigator who specializes in smoking out con artists. He is hired to find Sutter Cane (played with relish by Jurgen Prochnow), the world's leading author. The search leads to a town that shouldn't exist; Hobb's End, a town featured prominently in Sutter Cane's books.

What follows is a mixture of John Carpenter atmosphere, H.P. Lovecraftian madness, and deep concepts. Even if you don't want to think that much, you can still enjoy the film for it's terrifying beauty, disturbing images, and great performances by a fine cast that includes Charlton Heston and Bernie Casey. Although not taken directly from any one H.P. Lovecraft story, the locations and creatures are probably the best depiction of Cthulhu-type content ever filmed. Even the title of the movie sounds very much like "In The Mountains of Madness", a Lovecraft story. It does a fine job of honoring Lovecraft's work without copying any of his ideas directly.

If I was grading the film by itself it would definately get 5 stars, but I am rating the DVD as a whole. I must take off a star for the horrible commentary track. The DVD comes in a paper case with a plastic snap lock. Hopefully someone will release a deluxe edition of this picture and add some meaty extras, but until then, get this DVD if you enjoy a good scare.

One of John Carpenter's last truly scary films. An all-around gem.

Much more than a simple horror movie, In the Mouth of Madness takes the viewer on the twisted tale of insurance fraud investigator John Trent (Sam Neill) sent to find world famous pulp horror writer Sutter Cane (Jurgen Prochnow of Das Boot, Dune). Carpenter's cinematic style reaches its pinnacle in this wild ride and his self-composed score completes the masterpiece. Full of outstanding introspective scenes juxtaposed with Carpenter's trademark wit, ITMOM delves into the core of reality and, more importantly, the perception of reality. What is reality but what the mass populus believes it to be? Sutter Cane's twisted books have become more believable than the Bible in the world of ITMOM and John Trent finds himself an unwitting pawn of Cane's warped apocalypse. A visually astounding, thought provoking movie that is not to be missed.

If you're a horror fan this is the movie for you. If you're like me and you love supernatural horror more than slasher horror, than this is THE movie for you. Scares and a deep, strong story, through and through. A superb ending. Can't be beat. This should be in any horror fans library to watch whenever you they can.

this is a severely freaky movie! it's a MUST OWN for HP Lovecraft fans. If you're not a Lovecraft fan, it's still good, but some of the subtle points might get overlooked. I love this movie! Sam Neil plays a great "freak out" character. But again, if you don't know Lovecraft's "style" you might get a little lost in the ending and events leading up to it.

This review contains some slight spoilers. Many people say that John Carpenter does either GREAT or VERY BAD films. I think his only two duds were Escape from LA and Village of the Damned. But he is one of my two fave directors (David Lynch is the other) and this is one of his best movies.

It may seem confusing at first but trust me...it does make sense. The premise of this film fascinates me. What happens when the line between fantasy and reality disappears and creatures from fiction can exist in the real world? Wow! This makes the basis of a totally cool movie.

John Carpenter always used 2.35:1 photography and in this film we get a screen filled with creepy imagery and cool locations. The film was shot entirely in Canada in 1993 and was released in 1995. It is set basically in the city and in the fictional town of Hobbs End. When I say that Hobbs End is fictional I really mean it. In the film the town does not exist but Sam Neill ends up there. Some dark magick/logic at work methinks.

This is definitely a horror film for the thinking audience. If you like your horror deep, intriguing and downbeat without being depressing...you'll LOVE this one.

This is a freaky movie! It's about this writer Sutter Cane who writes books that are like a disease and people go insane after reading them. Soon, so many have read them that those who do not read Sutter Cane books become the insane ones. John Trent is sent to investigate Sutter Cane's disappearance and soon finds his own reality and sanity slipping away. This movie is way too crazy to even explain it or attempt to write a spoiler. It's just something you have to see. It's part horror, part psycological thriller and a disturbing ride beginning to end. It has some gore but not too much, great suspense but is mostly a 'smart' type of movie delving into the darkness that exists in all humans. It has very creepy undertones and is anything but predictable! It's the type of movie you have to watch more than once to notice all the subtle details.

John Carpenter has had quite a bad string of films that fail to live up to the standards he has set with his past works and those fans of his films who have seen him as a master of the genre. In 1995 he came up with a very good film that paid homage to two master writers of the horror-fantasy genre. Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness was a very good film that thrilled both his fans and those of the horror genre.

Sam Neill stars as insurance investigator John Trent who's hired by publishing editor Jackson Harglow (played by Charlton Heston in a brief role) to find one of their star novelist: the extremely popular horror novelist, Sutter Crane (played with weird creepiness by Jurgen Prochnow). It seems Crane has disappeared and cut off all contact with his handlers just as his latest horror novel's released. Throughout the beginning of the film there's a sense that Crane's latest book has more than an entertaining effect on those who've bought and read it. Homicidal individuals Trent encounters throughout the film and all linked to Crane's book and what he thought was a fictional New England town used in all of Crane's books. The town of Hobb's End was a definite homage to Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft who also created the fictional towns of Castle Rock and Arkham to locate many of their stories.

Neill does a great job of conveying Trent's bewildered, confused and ultimate descent into the mouth of madness Crane's writings seem to have opened in reality itself. From the weirdly peculiar to obscenely homicidal going ons by the townspeople of Hobb's End, Trent's logical nature is put to the test by the Lovecraftian situations and events he witnesses as his search for Sutter Crane leads from him from one horror to the next. The characters created by Lovecraft in his Cthulhu Mythos were never mentioned in Michael De Luca's script but the essense of these otherworldly beings of pure malice and evil permeates throughout the film. There's never been a successful attempt to film a Lovecraft story into a feature-lenght production, but In the Mouth of Madness comes close to achieving it. Even the wooden and under-inspired performance by Julie Carmen as Linda Styles, as Crane's literary agent and Trent's partner in his search, couldn't bring this film down. Carpenter does a great job of taking De Luca's script and creating a story where reality and madness slowly and inexorably begin to mesh to the point neither Trent or the audience knows what is real anymore. The end of the film was great in that Carpenter eschews the usual happy ending of most horror movies and instead finishes the madness he started and sees it through its end just like Trent.

In the Mouth of Madness showed that John Carpenter was still a master of his craft when given the right script to work with. He mixes to great effect homages to works of both Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft. His film also does a great job of instilling not just fear and horror of the unknown, but also that of losing one's mind and not knowing whats real and what's not. Despite not doing great business in the box-office, In the Mouth of Madness was a very good film that people in 1995 weren't just prepared to appreciate.

John Carpenter's "In the Mouth of Madness" is one of his older films and many people have never heard of it. Too bad, really, since this is one of his better movies. Once the slimy monsters show up, I think it lost a little bit of it's effect but other than that...It's pretty solid. The movie opens in an asylum, where a man is being thrown into a padded room as he insists that he's not insane. Minutes later, a man shows up and tells the insane man that he's here to get him out...He doesn't believe the insane man is insane either. Then the movie flashes back so we can see how the insane man wound up there. Sam Neill ('Jurassic Park') plays John Trent, an insurance claims investigator who is quite good at his job. While sitting at a diner, an axe wielding man asks him "Do you read Sutter Cane?" right as he tries to kill him. Sutter Cane is a world renowned horror author, who sells billions of books and is more popular than Stephen King. Problem is, his books affect many people...Drive them to do insane things. Trent is hired by Cane's publishers to track him down, but Trent doesn't believe it. After buying some of Cane's books, he discovers a map hidden in the covers that leads to a town no one knows about called Hobbs End. With Cane's editor, Styles, in tow Trent sets out to the mysterious town. When he gets there, he'll wind up straddling a fine line between fiction and reality. The movie is actually pretty smart...As I said, they should've ditched the slimy monsters...But, the movie 'It' should have ditched the giant spider. Everything that happens, technically, makes sense...There are no plot holes or anything. Neill turns in a surprisingly strong performance. This movie isn't as creepy as say..."Halloween" but it's entertaining. If you like John Carpenter, then you should like this movie. Also, look for appearances by a very young Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and that kid from Transamerica & Air Bud (Kevin Zegers).

GRADE: A-

In The Mouth Of Madness was definitely one of Carpenter's best films and its one of my absolute favorites I thought it was an underrated gem and a great horror film, the film however wasn't a hit at the boxoffice cause it was released at the wrong time during the mid 90's which at that time horror films just weren't that popular. John Carpenter is considered to be one of the best and most prolific horror directors out there but during the 90's his career was abit uneven and his films were either a hit or miss but I consider this film to be a hit. The film was also inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft successfully capturing the nightmarish world of the mythology but not directly based on his stories, I wouldn't say it was a scary film but it does have a dark and creepy atmosphere especially when Sam Niel's character arrives at Hobb's End which is a small fictional town created by the evil horror writer Sutter Cane (nice performance by Jurgen Prochnow). There are some great scenes in this film that were simply mind blowing and it also has a great plot twist, John Carpenter was able to capture the madness and apocalyptic vision that happens later on. The story's about a new and highly successful horror writer named Sutter Cane, his fans have been obsessing over his books to the point that it creates mass hysteria. Sutter Cane's books obviously have a huge effect on its readers but its soon found out that the writer has disappeared. John Trent brilliantly played by Sam Niel is a special investigator for insurance companies that tracks insurance fraud done by people is soon sent out to investigate the disappearance of Sutter Cane by Cane's publisher played by Charlton Heston, he soon agrees and goes along with Cane's editor played by Julie Carmen at first he thinks that its some sort of publicity stunt by then he would find out the horrible truth. Trent was able to find the whereabouts of Cane by piecing together the covers of Cane's novels and discovers a town in New England called Hobb's End. As soon as they both arrive in the town they start having bizarre and horrifying visions and is not clear whether it is real or not and they just don't know what to expect, the special fx and gore scenes were brilliant they had some truly memorable scenes like the weird little zombie kids and slimy monsters. The story sort of crosses the barrier between fact and fiction and enters a terrifying world where there is no escape, the music was great and is highly effective and really compliments the mood and atmosphere. The opening and ending credits uses a hard rock instrumental track done by Carpenter but the rest of the film uses a moody synthesizer, I highly recommend this excellent horror film and two thumbs up!.

I don't care for anything John Carpenter has directed after 1982's "The Thing". However, I am a fan of H.P. Lovecraft's literature, and I do like Carpenter's earlier films, so when I was in the rental shop the other day I thought I'd give this film a viewing. I'm glad I did.

"In The Mouth Of Madness" is not an actual H.P. Lovecraft story; nor is it based on H.P. Lovecraft's work. It is, however, styled on and after H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos and short stories. And the film, like a fungus, grows on you. Should you not be too impressed with it on the first viewing (as I was not), I recommend watching it again.

The premise of "In The Mouth Of Madness" is about a fraud squad detective (Neill) hired by a publishing company to find the whereabouts of a mysterious best-selling horror novelist, as well as to look into the growing hysteria surrounding readers of his books.

The performances are first rate, the story engaging and thrilling, the locations are colourful, and the cinematography, music, and special effects work very well in complementing the aforementioned. What's particularly interesting about this film is the style with which it opens: very Stanley Kubrick. And Carpenter certainly doesn't waste any time, either: there's never a dull moment in this film. And despite some big name seasoned actors in the cast, Sam Neill (who's become a big name himself) absolutely steals the show. "In The Mouth Of Madness" is an extremely well done, professional film with a fairly original story. And Lovecraft fans will definitely see familiar Lovecraft elements and creatures in this film, as well as get the disorienting feeling, albeit a shallow one, that Lovecraft implements in his stories about a particular narrator going mad, etc.

But the film isn't without its share of downsides. For instance, I can't say that I really felt the credibility of the "madness", myself. It is because of the cerebral condition involved in madness, a condition that only a reader through his or her imagination can realistically conjure up and interpret, that I believe Lovecraft's work untranslatable to the big screen. In addition, I can't say I found anything in the film particularly scary, either. Eerie, perhaps - maybe even tense. But scary, no. With all the usual John Carpenter "stingers" and horrific creatures and sequences, I'm led to believe that this film was supposed to be scary. (I think, perhaps, I've just seen too many horror films that use the same old tricks, which this film is guilty of, to be scared by any of them anymore. Of course, should this film have come out in the early 1980s, I would've certainly been scared.) However, I did get confused, "taken", and muddled, as there are a good deal of twists in this film that are meant to disorient the viewer. In fact, there are so many twists that the viewer will come to expect them - which ultimately kills any kind of credibility of any particular scene henceforth. This is a problem. Another downside is the editing: certain shots should've been deleted from the film entirely to leave something to the imagination; other shots should've just merely been briefer to give more impact to the shot.

However, despite the drawbacks I mentioned, which may not even be a factor for some viewers, "In The Mouth Of Madness" is the kind of Horror Thriller that will withstand the test of time and that one will be able to appreciate and enjoy in more than one viewing. Personally, I would've liked to have seen some deleted scenes interwoven in this film, myself, to have it fleshed out more.